Publisher's Synopsis
This book pulls aside the curtains that normally shield the halls of academe and reveals a world occupied by fascinating and vividly portrayed characters who are impelled by the same passions, aspirations, and ideals that motivate all of humankind. Among them are a university president, whose overriding concern is the welfare of the football team, a lowly assistant professor who, desperate to win the security of tenure, fakes the results of a research study, and some students who cheat to improve their exam scores. Another student plays a significant role in the story when she unwittingly opens the eyes of a university administrator to the malicious schemes of a department chairman who is willing to use any means to win promotion to a deanship, seeing it as an essential step toward the realization of his dream of becoming a university president. This richly textured story is marked by astonishing twists and turns, and, in the end, lives are dramatically changed. Some reach their goals; others let them slip away.
